Searching for Moonlight
by Goddes-of-Moon
Summary: Artemis Prime was just a normal 15 year old, until she discovered she could talk to animals and make things happen. A modern Greek Mythology tale of the Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon. Follow Artemis as she go on a journey to discover her true self.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Artemis Prime was gorgeous. With her hair as dark as midnight and her big eyes as dark as the night, she was every boy's fantasy and every girl's jealousy. She ruled Betsy Hall Prep, and she didn't even know it.

Outside, she was the cool, confident girl everyone wants to get and wants to be, but inside, there was turmoil in her, like there's something missing from her system. Ever since Artemis turned 15 last autumn, she had that awful feeling inside her, like there was an incomplete part of her that she doesn't know about. And that made her extremely uncomfortable and absolutely terrified.

"Artemis, keep up! You're lagging behind," cried out Artemis's homeroom teacher, Mrs Finnegan, an old, wrinkly woman with graying hair. Artemis jogged back towards her classmates from the case with a snake, tugging her white Juicy handbag securely on her small right shoulder. They were at the Central Park Zoo, New York, for their yearly school field trip.

Annabeth George, a tall, lanky blonde and blue-eyed beauty tapped Artemis's shoulder. Artemis had to look up to look at her best friend. Artemis was petite, which she insisted was because of her dad's genes. It was the only thing she and her dad had in common: their height. Her mother died while giving birth to her so Artemis did not know what she looked like.

"Why on Earth were you staring at the snake like that?" Annabeth whispered.

"I don't know," Artemis lied. The truth was she couldn't help it. It was like there was a pull between the snake and her, as though it was trying to communicate with her. She felt that pull every time she was near an animal. Artemis couldn't understand it, but she had a feeling it was going to bother her for the rest of the day.

Mrs Finnegan dismissed them at the McDonalds restaurant nearby to get their lunch. Annabeth and Artemis took a seat near the door. Annabeth went to queue up for the food, while Artemis took out her lunch box, filled with delicious salad. She was a vegetarian. She tucked in quickly, being careful not to stain her white top.

After lunch, Artemis and her classmates went to check out the horses, reptiles and then came the deer. The deer always intrigued Artemis. They were such delicate creatures and she felt like touching them. It has been a while since she had gone to the zoo and visited the beautiful animals, but when she came to the zoo that day, she felt weird. With a jolt, she realized the deer looked extremely sad.

Her mind began to go fuzzy, and then, like a radio, other noises faded away and the deer talked to her. They talked to her with their own language, but Artemis understood perfectly.

_'Oh, please save us. Let us go back to our homes. Oh please. Oh Lady Artemis. Oh great huntress. Free us.'_

The 4 deer bowed low to Artemis, as though she was a queen. Artemis looked around, but her other classmates were listening to their iPods, using their phones or were just sitting on the floor, looking bored. Annabeth was busy talking to her other friends and Mrs Finnegan was reading a newspaper.

She knew she needed to do something, no matter how crazy she already thought she had become. How could a normal person understand what a deer was saying? People would capture her and put her in a mental hospital. But, in her heart, she knew what she heard was real and what she saw was the truth, waiting for her to say, "Aha!"

Artemis didn't say anything, but touched the glass case with a perfectly manicured finger. She closed her eyes and did something weird. She imagined the glass case disappearing and leading the deer out. She opened her eyes and lifted her finger away. At first, nothing happened. The deer were just staring at her curiously, their dewy brown eyes questioning. And then, with a burst of silver light, the glass disappeared and the 4 elegant deer slipped out, thanked Artemis with another bow, and left.

The whole zoo erupted in chaos. But nobody could figure out how the deer escaped. Artemis stood rooted to the ground, shocked. Nothing like this had happened to her before so she doesn't know what to think. She tried her best to look innocent to let the guards know that she had nothing to do with it, but turns out she didn't have to. After all, she was just a mere human. How unusual would those escaping deer looked? So the security guards did what they think was right: they apologized for their bad security and fragile glass.

When Artemis got home after the exhausting day, she couldn't help thinking of the deer. It was just so weird.

What is really happening to her?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Artemis pinched her cheeks, and then placed her left cheek on the cool glass window of the shuttle bus, that would take her directly to her apartment, to calm herself down. The zoo incident had drained her. She felt absolutely tired; her head felt like it was going to burst open. Her whole body was freezing even though it wasn't even that cold. Her breath was coming in short gasps and she was struggling to breath.

The bus screeched to a stop suddenly at a traffic light and Artemis braced her feet against the seat in front of her to prevent from falling. She was about to close her dark eyes again, but then she saw a peacock prancing down the road. It was the most beautiful peacock Artemis had ever seen. Its feathers were a mix of bright, vibrant colors.

Abruptly, the peacock locked eyes with Artemis, and in a heartbeat, it crashed into the door of the bus. The passengers, including Artemis, jumped. The peacock charged down the aisle, jumped on the seat beside Artemis and started turning into smoke. The peacock shed its feathers, which dissolved as it reached the floor of the bus, leaving in its place a slim figure of a motherly woman. She had light brown hair and green eyes. Her full lips curved into a tight, menacing smile as she looked Artemis up and down.

The woman held up her hand in a 'wait' gesture and waved her other hand at the other passengers, who were staring at the woman. With a wave of her hand came peacock-colored smoke that clouded the passengers' faces. The woman repaired the bus door with another wave and then, she snapped her fingers. The bus moved again and the passengers carried on with their business as usual like nothing had happened.

Artemis watched the lady silently. She had no idea who the peacock-changing-into-a-woman is. She was shivering. Not because of the cold that was still wrapped around her, but because of the woman who seemed to emit fear just by her presence. She turned to Artemis after a pause to collect herself and said, in a voice that was supposed to be mocking, "Hello, my dear daughter. How are you? I was pretty sure you were dead long ago." She had a small smile on her pretty face, but Artemis was sure the smile was not supposed to be a 'nice' smile.

Artemis, being the polite person that she is, shakily asked, ""I'm sorry, _what_? Who are you?"

The woman laughed out loud, like Artemis's question was the stupidest question in the world. "Who am I? _Who am I? _I'm Hera, goddess of marriage, aka, your stepmother. And this is how you treat _me_? I'm very disappointed in your disrespectful behavior right now, Artemis. Shame on you." Hera shook her head disapprovingly.

Artemis clutched the edge of her seat tightly till the sharp edge dug into her tanned skin. She did not like this woman. She's probably a crazy maniac. Maybe if she looked away, Hera would go away.

Artemis gulped and turned towards the window. Maybe she was hallucinating. Yeah, that's it. Hallucinating…

Someone cleared her throat. Hera stared back at Artemis in confusion.

Well, maybe not.

Artemis gulped again and tried to remember what Hera said. "What are you talking about? I don't have a stepmother. And my mom is… dead, before I was even born."

Hera tsk-ed at Artemis and shook her head again. "My dear young lady, you're just a shell for the real Artemis. Haven't you noticed? You can understand animals. You made glass disappear. You're special. What happened at the zoo wasn't a mere coincidence. The Artemis inside of you has awakened." Hera squinted. "Artemis, I know you're in there. Come out now. Take over the mortal's body completely if you want to come back to Mount Olympus." At first, nothing happened. Hera waited, and waited, and waited. Apparently, she got bored waiting, so she hit Artemis at the side of her head. Artemis felt like she was being shoved aside and she was standing behind the seat she was sitting in.

There was currently two Artemis in the bus. One was standing behind a seat, while another was sitting perfectly still in front of Hera. Artemis saw her sitting self changed. Artemis's dark eyes glowed dark silver, almost like the moon. Her dark hair grew longer and thicker, and fell over her face in a messy-attractive kind of way. Her t-shirt and jeans molded itself into a short, white fashionable chiffon dress with a silver band wrapped around her waist. She was beautiful. The sitting Artemis looked completely different yet the same as the standing Artemis. Artemis (the one standing) blinked, hard. She wanted to scream to make the nightmare go away, but she seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

The 'changed' Artemis turned her glowing silver eyes at Hera and glared at the older woman. She hissed, in an angry voice, "What do you want?"

Hera laughed again, but nervously, clearly intimidated. "I merely showed the mortal who she really is. Without you, she's nothing."

The silver-eyed Artemis held out her hand. A silver stake appeared on her hand. She aimed it at Hera. "I used to hold back. I swear I won't anymore. Just leave me and the mortal alone. She has nothing to do with anything."

Hera flinched, maybe for a second, and cleared her throat. "You can't threaten me, Artemis. You can't hurt me. I am immortal, unlike you. If the mortal dies, you will die with her. Do you want that? Do you want to exist as particles in the air again? You want to find another mortal and torment her after this one dies? Is that it?"

Silver-eyed Artemis shook her head lightly. "You know I can't harm young ladies. And I can't go back to Mount Olympus. I don't want to. I don't want to join Cronos's Army."

"Why not? Everyone joined him already. The Olympians, the minor gods, even your precious twin brother did. You're the last one who hadn't. With you, Cronos's Army is complete." Hera grinned cheerfully.

A silver tear escaped Artemis. She shook her head again and wiped away her tear. "Apollo was forced. He did it to protect me. Everyone did it to protect something. They didn't join Cronos out of their own free will. I know that. You can't keep the truth away from me. And I am never, _ever_ joining you or your daddy, Cronos."

Hera's expression twisted into a grimace and she huffed, not knowing what to say. Finally, she said, "You will. Definitely." With a burst of peacock feathers, Hera disappeared, leaving silver-eyed Artemis blinking back tears. Eventually, both Artemis blacked out, morphing into one.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Artemis Prime discovered herself in her room after waking up. She sat up, stretched comfortably in her queen-sized bed and yawned. Then the events of the day tumbled down on her. She groaned in confusion as she stumbled into her spacious white-colored bathroom.

She took out a brush from the drawer and started to comb out her unruly dark hair. She was especially proud of her hair. It was all silky and a little wavy. Girls would kill to have hair as awesome as hers. She placed the comb back down into the drawer and pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail to wash her face for the night.

But then she saw her reflection on the mirror. She looked the same as always; heart-shaped face, slightly tanned complexion, rosy cheeks, but her eyes… Her eyes were silver.

"Holy s—"Artemis was interrupted by a silver mist around her reflection. The mirror cracked a little as though someone punched it, and then it turned clear again.

Her reflection smiled, but Artemis wasn't smiling. The reflection waved at her, opened her mouth and then closed it again. Artemis wasn't doing anything of the above. Artemis held up a hand. Instead of seeing her reflection do the same, it stared back blankly at her in confusion.

"Who are you?" Artemis croaked out.

The reflection smiled again and said, "Artemis."

"You're _me_. Of course that's your name." Artemis was astonished. Here she was, talking to her own reflection. She was definitely turning crazy.

Artemis's reflection pouted. "You don't understand."

"I understand perfectly. I'm talking to my own reflection! Good God, what is wrong with me?" Artemis turned away from the mirror, blinked, and then stared back at the mirror. Her reflection was perfectly still.

"Stop that!" The reflection exclaimed. "There's nothing wrong with you, really. I just need to talk to you." Her silver eyes glistened slightly as she said, "It's time for you to be told the truth." The mirrors cracked again, and then the reflection disappeared.

Artemis widened her now-silver eyes in surprise as she noticed that she had no reflection. _Weird_, she thought, as she exited the bathroom. She closed the bathroom door gingerly behind her and faced her huge all-white bedroom. Her bed, which was covered in comfortable pillows and a puffy blanket, was positioned in the middle of the bedroom. Her white wardrobe was pushed to the side of the room, beside the window. Pictures of her and her friends were plastered all over the room. Everything looked the same as usual, until she looked at her bed again.

There was a girl, wearing a silver tunic that matched her silver eyes. She had a type of weapon in her hand and a slight smile on her pink lips. She looked perfect and extremely identical to Artemis. The room temperature dropped ever so slightly as the girl took a ginger step towards Artemis.

"Hello," the girl grinned and Artemis immediately felt as though she was being wrapped up comfortably in a cold embrace. "My name is Artemis, or you can call me Arte, and I am the goddess of the moon, hunt, hills and –" she stopped. "Well, let's cut these formalities. You've known me your whole life. I have been there, inside of you, for gods knows how long. Wait, how old are you?"

"15." Artemis said hesitantly.

"Okay, then maybe I've been in you for 15 years." Arte said thoughtfully, twirling a strand of midnight hair around a finger. "Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'm here, right?" Without waiting for a response, Arte rattled on, "I'm actually here to tell you about everything." She tapped a finger to her chin. "But I don't know where to start…"

Artemis was really shocked with the appearance of a long-lost twin that she didn't know about. And she was pretty sure she was hallucinating, maybe she was in a dream, or a nightmare. She cleared her throat and asked, "Maybe you could start by telling me what happened to you." She decided to play along, since this was a dream. She would wake up sooner or later.

"Oh," Arte said, "A decade ago, Cronos, my grandfather, escaped Tartarus." She paused for dramatic effect. She was expecting Artemis to react in some way, but she didn't know how to respond, so she sat there speechless, blinking stupidly.

Arte sighed exasperatedly. "Anyway, he was really, _really_ evil and decided to build an army. An army of gods, demi-gods, titans, nymphs… You got it. He's got many on his side, and I don't know how to stop him. If I join him, his army would be complete. He could take over the world. Humans would perish under him and he could do anything and get everything he wants, because he's the most powerful immortal I've ever known.

"I hate him. I hate him to the core of my being. He had taken everything away from me… my twin brother, my friends, my family, my home, everything. I cannot even begin to explain to you how much it hurts to have had everything and then, in a blink of an eye, it was all gone." A single silver tear escaped the goddess's silver eyes. She turned away, wiping it off with the back of her hand. But alas, it was of no use, because more tears came and soon, she was sobbing.

Artemis offered a piece of tissue to the weeping Arte and patted her on the back. Even though this was a dream, Artemis was kind and didn't want her guest to cry.

In between sobs, Arte explained, "At that time when Cronos escaped, there was an Olympians meeting. I wasn't there at that time. I was late. And everybody else was early. Cronos placed all of them under a spell. He found out what everyone held dear and threaten it against them, forcing them to join his army. Also, anybody who left would be turned into particles in the air. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't informed of that when I finally reached Mount Olympus. I went through the gates, saw Cronos, and immediately went out again, causing my whole body to disappear, like that." Arte snapped her fingers.

"I shouldn't have left. If I hadn't, I might've been able to save them. But I was selfish, and weak. I escaped and sought for refuge at the Mortal World. I went to the only place that I would be needed: The Delivery Room of a Hospital. There was a woman in there, in pain. It doesn't seem like she was going to make it. I heard the doctor say that both the woman and the baby wouldn't be able to make it. I couldn't leave the baby alone. I saved you. But, I wasn't strong enough to save the woman. I'm sorry, Artemis.

"Your father felt indebted to me, so he named you after me. And then—" Arte disappeared in a puff of silver smoke.

The bedroom door creaked open. Artemis was so absorbed in Arte's story that she didn't even notice. "Artemis, why are you still awake?" Artemis's dad, Andy Prime, asked kindly. "I heard you talking."

"Dad!" Artemis lied, "I was on the phone." Artemis plastered a smile on her face. "Have you had your dinner yet? Do you want me to whip up something for you?"

He shook his head and closed the door behind him. Artemis sat on the bed, hands on her face, knees pulled towards her chest. That evening was getting weirder and weirder.


End file.
